Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the remarks by UN Relief Coordinator on 19 January that the drought in northern Ethiopia requires "more funds and an urgent scale-up of the response"; and what is their response.

The UK is committed to providing support to the most vulnerable and those in desperate need in Ethiopia. We recognise that an up-scale in international assistance is vital to prevent this situation from deteriorating. That is why we will continue to increase our funding for Ethiopia in the next financial year, enabling us to further scale up our health, nutrition, water and sanitation, and protection programmes across Ethiopia, including in the north.